Thursday - May 24, 2018, 1:17 pm

Posted by Andy Durham on November 19, 2013 at 10:54 am under Professional | Comments are off for this article

Carolina Panthers looking good last night with their 24-20 win over the New England Patriots, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte…..

Are the Panthers playoff-bound? Will they win their division, the NFC South?? Was there more to last night’s finish than meets the eye???

There was a flag on the field, on the last play of the game and then the flag was picked up and the official put it back in his pocket and he ran off the field….

Still lots of questions surrounding this one and that is the way it is in the BIG games, always question marks showing up at the end of the contest, win or lose….

Here is the breakdown on the last play of the game from ESPN.com:www.espn.com

Carolina Panthers’ rookie safety Robert Lester intercepted the pass, but an official at the back of the end zone threw a flag for pass interference on Panthers’ linebacker Luke Kuechly, who had both arms wrapped around Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski.

The officials quickly gathered, however, and waved off the flag, ruling Gronkowski could not have caught the ball, which was underthrown.

Referee Clete Blakeman opened his microphone and announced there was no foul on the play, and the game was over.

Following the game, Blakeman spoke to the media and explained and defended his crew’s decision, saying the original call was pass interference but that Gronkowski’s distance from the ball rendered the penalty moot.

“So it was determined at that point in time that when the primary contact occurred on the tight end that the ball, in essence, was coming in underthrown and in essence it was (immediately) at that point intercepted at the front end of the end zone,” Blakeman said. “So there was a determination that, in essence, uncatchability, that the ball was intercepted at or about the same time the primary contact against the receiver occurred.”